Dan Simmons is a SpeculativeFiction author, best known for his sprawling and imaginative horror-tinged ScienceFiction series, the '' Literature/HyperionCantos''. He has also written {{fantasy}} and {{horror}}, and has won awards for best novel of the year in all three categories.

A common thread throughout all Simmons's novels are references to classic literature, either directly or metaphorically. ([[AuthorAppeal Simmons was once a middle-school English teacher]]).

!!! Works by Dan Simmons with pages on this wiki:[[index]]* ''Literature/CarrionComfort''* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'': ''Hyperion'', ''The Fall of Hyperion'', ''Endymion'', ''The Rise of Endymion''* ''Literature/{{Illium}}''/''Olympos''* ''Literature/{{Drood}}''* ''Literature/TheTerror'' -- A HistoricalFantasy that depicts the RealLife British lost expedition [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition]] to find the fabled Northwest Passage around Canada's northern shore. After getting stuck in the polar ice, horror ensues when a supernatural beast starts picking off the survivors one by one.[[/index]]

!!! Other works by Dan Simmons include:* ''Song of Kali'' - A MaybeMagicMaybeMundane PsychologicalHorror about a journalist who encounters a cult in [[UsefulNotes/{{India}} Calcutta]].* ''The Hollow Man'' - A MagicalRealism novel about a man who's [[HearingVoices helplessly]] [[{{Telepathy}} telepathic]], and how he copes with life after his long-time wife passes away and he's forced to deal with the world at large.* ''Summer of Night'' - A Creator/StephenKing-esque horror novel about a group of young boys living in a small town facing off against an eldritch supernatural terror.----!! Tropes in his other works:

* AuthorAppeal: A strong fear of Islam taking over globally, with most people letting it happen, can be found in his work. * CreatorBreakdown: He was always a bit paranoid about Islam, but the September 11th attacks tipped him over the edge into making every book a diatribe against it, and people's apathy in the face of the perceived threat.* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: Jeremy Bremen from ''The Hollow Man'' suffers this as soon as his wife dies, who was the only other telepath he had met. Being around large crowds of people makes him suffer horrible migraines, considering his ability is the equivalent of watching thousands of television shows at once in 3D at full volume with no way to turn it off. The only people who he can be around with no negative effects to him are those who are mentally deficient or psychotic.* TheTopicOfCancer: The story "Metastasis" is built heavily around this trope. Apparently cancer [[spoiler:is caused by a parasitic race that uses humans as breeding grounds. In effect each tumor is actually a larvae that devours humans from the inside as it reproduces wildly until there is nothing left. The parents then come back and devour their offspring for nourishment occasionally leaving one or two to germinate into an adult]].